Academy Fellow

Professor Jon Altman was Professor of Anthropology and an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, the Australian National University. From 1990-2010 he was the inaugural director of CAEPR. Professor Altman specializes in combining the disciplines of anthropology and economics in the analysis of development issues and state policies for Indigenous Australians.

His current research is focused on the role of the customary sector alongside the market and the state in Indigenous 'hybrid' economies - research being undertaken in collaboration with biological and ecological scientists focused on issues of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.

Other area of expertise include:

• the anthropology of development
• Indigenous public policy
• the Indigenous arts industry
• mining and Indigenous Australians
• land rights and native title
• Indigenous socioeconomic status and its measurement.

• Chair, Review of the Aboriginals Benefit Trust Account
• Chair, Review of the Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Industry
• Member, review of Native Title Representative Bodies
• Member UNESCO Kakadu mission
• Independent expert, Kakadu Region Social Impact Study.

Member (AM) of the Order of Australia, 2017

• Altman, J.C. and Hinkson, M. (eds) 2007. Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia, Arena Publications Association, Melbourne
• Altman, J.C. and Martin, D. (eds) 2009. Power, Culture, Economy: Indigenous Australians and Mining, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 30, ANU E Press, Canberra.
• Altman, J.C. and Hinkson, M. (eds) 2010. Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney.